Learn Hardcore Hausa: ’Yar uwata ba ta son ta farka da wuri a Lahadi. - My sister doesn’t like to wake up early on Sunday.

’yar = daughter / girl (female child)
uwa = mother
uwata = my mother (uwa + the 1st person singular possessive ending -ta for feminine nouns)

So ’yar uwata is “daughter of my mother,” i.e. my sister.
The possessive attaches to uwa because, conceptually, she is “a daughter of my mother,” not “my daughter.” Putting the possessive on ’yar (e.g. ’yata) would mean “my daughter,” not “my sister.”

Why is the sentence not just Uwata ba ta son ta farka da wuri a Lahadi if uwata means “my mother”? How do we know it’s “my sister”?

On its own, uwata normally means “my mother.”
But ’yar uwa is a fixed expression meaning “sister” (literally, “daughter of [my] mother”). When you add a possessive to uwa inside that expression, you get:

’yar uwa = a sister (lit. daughter of a mother)
’yar uwata = my sister (lit. daughter of my mother)

If someone said Uwata ba ta son ta farka…, that would be understood as “My mother doesn’t like to wake up…”
Because the sentence starts with ’Yar uwata, it clearly refers to “my sister,” not “my mother.” Context and this standard expression remove the ambiguity.

What is the function of ba in ba ta son?

Ba is the main negative marker in Hausa.

In this sentence, ba ta son means “she does not like / she doesn’t like.”
The pattern here is:

ta son = she likes / she loves
ba ta son = she doesn’t like / she does not like

So ba placed before the subject pronoun ta (she) negates the whole clause. It’s similar to adding “not” in English.

I thought Hausa uses ba … ba for negation. Why is there only ba at the beginning and no second ba at the end?

Hausa has two main negative patterns:

Verbal clause negation (with a finite verb) often uses ba … ba:
- Ba ta tashi da wuri ba. = She does not get up early.
Nominal-style negation (negating a noun phrase or a verbal noun construction) often just uses ba at the beginning, and the second ba is usually dropped in everyday speech:
- Ba ta son shayi. = She doesn’t like tea.
- Ba ta son ta farka da wuri. = She doesn’t like to wake up early.

In your sentence, son is a verbal noun (“liking”), so the whole ba ta son… behaves more like a negative noun phrase, and speakers commonly omit the second ba. Both styles exist, but this one is very natural in this structure.

Why do we have ta twice: ba ta son ta farka? Do both ta refer to the same person?

Yes, both ta refer to the same female person (your sister).

The first ta is the subject pronoun for the verb-like element son:
- ba ta son… = she does not like…
The second ta is the subject pronoun for the verb farka (“to wake up”):
- …ta farka da wuri = (that) she wake up early

So ba ta son ta farka… literally is “she does not like that she wake up early…”, which corresponds to English “she doesn’t like to wake up early.”
Hausa typically repeats the subject pronoun in such complement clauses instead of omitting it.

Could we say Ba ’yar uwata ba ta son farka da wuri a Lahadi instead? Where should ba go?

No, that word order would be strange and ungrammatical for this meaning.

In this sentence, the negation targets the liking, not the existence of the sister. The normal pattern is:

’Yar uwata ta son ta farka da wuri a Lahadi. = My sister likes to wake up early on Sunday.
’Yar uwata ba ta son ta farka da wuri a Lahadi. = My sister does not like to wake up early on Sunday.

You don’t put ba before ’yar uwata here, because you’re not saying “My sister is not …” but “My sister does not like …”.
So the negative ba correctly appears in front of the subject pronoun ta, not in front of ’yar uwata.

What exactly does son mean, and how is it related to the verb so?

So is the basic verb meaning “to like / to love / to want.”
Son is its verbal noun, roughly equivalent to English “liking / love / desire.”

Ina son shayi. = I like tea. (literally: I am in liking-of tea)
Ba ta son ta farka da wuri. = She doesn’t like to wake up early.

So ta son = “her liking / she likes,” and ba ta son = “she doesn’t like.”
The structure often feels like “to have liking for X” rather than a simple finite verb the way English uses “like.”

Is there a difference between using farka and tashi for “wake up” here?

Both farka and tashi can refer to “waking up,” but there is a nuance:

farka focuses more on regaining consciousness / waking from sleep.
tashi is broader: to get up, stand up, rise, set off, and by extension to get up (from bed).

In everyday speech, many speakers would say:

Ba ta son ta tashi da wuri a Lahadi.

Using farka is also correct; it slightly emphasizes the moment of waking up rather than just physically getting up. In this sentence, both verbs are natural.

What does da wuri mean literally, and why do we need da before wuri?

Da wuri is a fixed expression meaning “early.”

wuri literally means “place, space, spot”, but in certain idioms it takes a time-related meaning.
da is a very common preposition/conjunction meaning things like “with, and, by, at.”

In the idiom da wuri, da plus wuri gives the adverb “early (in time)”.
You can compare it with other time expressions:

da daddare = at night
da safe = in the morning

So ta farka da wuri = she wakes up early.

Why is it a Lahadi and not something like da Lahadi or just Lahadi?

The preposition a is used very often to mark location and time, including days:

a gida = at home
a Lagos = in Lagos
a Lahadi = on Sunday

So a Lahadi = “on Sunday / on Sundays.”
You can sometimes drop a in very casual speech, but a Lahadi is the standard, clear form. Da is not used to mean “on (a day)” here.

Does a Lahadi mean “on Sundays in general” or “on this particular Sunday”?

By itself, a Lahadi can mean either:

habitual/general: “on Sundays” (as a regular pattern)
specific: “on Sunday” (a particular one, if context makes that clear)

In your sentence ’Yar uwata ba ta son ta farka da wuri a Lahadi, the natural reading is habitual:
“My sister doesn’t like to wake up early on Sundays.”

If you wanted to force a more clearly one-time, specific meaning, you would usually add extra context, like a wannan Lahadi (“this Sunday”).

How does the Hausa word order compare to the English word order in this sentence?

The word order is actually quite close to English:

Subject: ’Yar uwata = My sister
Negated verb-like phrase: ba ta son = does not like
Complement clause: ta farka da wuri = to wake up early
Time expression: a Lahadi = on Sunday(s)

So a fairly literal mapping is: ’Yar uwata (My sister) ba ta son (does not like) ta farka da wuri (to wake up early) a Lahadi (on Sunday).

Hausa often uses this straightforward S – V – (Object/Complement) – Time structure, similar to English.

Could we say Ba ta son farkawa da wuri a Lahadi instead of ba ta son ta farka da wuri a Lahadi?

Yes, that is also grammatical and natural, but the structure is slightly different:

Ba ta son ta farka da wuri a Lahadi.
= She doesn’t like (for her) to wake up early on Sunday.
(finite verb farka with its own subject ta)
Ba ta son farkawa da wuri a Lahadi.
= She doesn’t like waking up early on Sunday.
(the verbal noun farkawa functioning like “waking up”)

Both sentences express almost the same idea. The version you were given uses a finite clause (ta farka), while this alternative uses a verbal noun (farkawa), closer to the English “-ing” form. Both are good to know and recognize.